A little less talk, just a little more action...Skyline grill making some progress.


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Well, I know I have gabbed excessively about my dream Skyline “Chicago” grill. Mostly it has been a phantom in my imagination and some hoarded parts. Yesterday I finally started on the frame and at least there is the beginning of an actual grill:

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I bought a brand new classic wheel for the front and used a very nice one I already had for the back. Treated both with 303 protectant. The white part on these wheels is notorious for disintegrating in the sun and salt air. Hopefully the 303 will make a difference if I keep up with it.
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I also picked up a bunch of classic Genesis casters on close out from Ace Hardware. The fact that they are discontinuing carrying these struck me as a bad omen for the long term availability of parts for these older Genesis grills.

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I also tried out the firebox for a first fitting:

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I would have gotten further, but we had some company and I was blessed with the opportunity to do some bbq on my classic red kettle.

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The good thing is that the next few steps are the kind of things I can hopefully do after work now that the days are longer. I hope to get the burners, manifold, etc. all working. I have a cool side-burner, but I am going to have to try my first attempt at a valve disassembly and lubrication to get it working again. I also need to replace the plug on the manifold with a quick connection for the side-burner. I have a very healthy respect for gas, so I will be following the tips previously presented here on our site and probably will be asking for some tips.

It has been way too slow, but my dream grill is starting to come along.
 
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Looking good, Jon! I like your red kettle too (bought 2 kettles today to see what the fuss is about).

One thing to watch out for is the Skyline frame not having the lower leg braces in your pictures. The legs get awfully wobbly w/out the braces, and if you push the frame just right, the frame will collapse.
 
JKim in MA said:
Looking good, Jon! I like your red kettle too (bought 2 kettles today to see what the fuss is about).

One thing to watch out for is the Skyline frame not having the lower leg braces in your pictures. The legs get awfully wobbly w/out the braces, and if you push the frame just right, the frame will collapse.
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JKim,

Yes that is very true. I am fortunate to have stainless steel replacement tubes cut and ready to replace the regular steel ones that were too rusted to save. I still need to paint those and find the connectors (McMaster recommended here) I bought that are buried in my shed. I am going to use another set of these tubes on my Platinum, but of course I won’t have to paint those. I will have to drill new holes on the Platinum because it never had the long horizontal tubes but instead relied on the bottom to give the frame strength.
 
Looks good Jon. I just started on the rehab of the 05 Platinum C this past weekend also. If I can't salvage the bottom piece then I will make it an open cart and put a wire rack in its place as I've seen some people do that.
 
Great progress Jon! Maybe this week I'll finally paint my frame like I've been wanting to for three years, you are an inspiration!
 
Question RE adding side burner connector to manifold

LMichaels said:
Coming right along now
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Larry,
Can you look at these pictures and give me some advice? The first two are a brand new Genesis 1000 manifold. As you can see, it has a plug or some kind of fitting where you would attach a connector for a side burner:



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The next two are of an old Genesis Silver manifold I have in my collection. As you can see it has the quick connector (very dirty) for the side burner:

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My question is would it be ok to take off the “plug” piece on the new manifold and then replace it with the quick connector that I would remove from the old manifold. I see that these have tape around the thread. I do have gas tape, so I assume I would need to use it. If so, how much?

I would really rather leave my old manifold intact and buy a quick connector that will fit, but my attempt to locate one left me pretty bewildered. Can you point me to where I could get one?

The OEM early Genesis manifolds being sold seem to never have the side burner attachment, so I wound up buying what you see here knowing I would have to add one.

I would be grateful for your advice, and I am sure some others here could benefit as well.
 
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Yes most definitely. Simply remove the entire fitting from the new manifold and screw in the quick connect from the old one. On small fittings I highly recommend using PTFE Dope for gas rather than PTFE tape. The dope will seal better on the small fine threads. Once you get to 3/8" and above the yellow tape works great though
 
LMichaels said:
Yes most definitely. Simply remove the entire fitting from the new manifold and screw in the quick connect from the old one. On small fittings I highly recommend using PTFE Dope for gas rather than PTFE tape. The dope will seal better on the small fine threads. Once you get to 3/8" and above the yellow tape works great though
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Thanks, Larry! I will get the PTFE Dope. Do you know of any place where I could buy just a NEW quick connector so that I could leave my old manifold intact? I can’t seem to use the right words in searches to come up with something that looks right.
 
You could try any place that sells gas equipment I would think. Though I don't believe those connectors are used much if at all any more. They've all gone in favor of the flare fittings. More secure less chance of leaks
 
Nice start on that skyline. Funny I had two grills with side burners my E320 which I fired it up to see if it worked when I got the grill 4 years ago and it did, never opened the cover since then. My Gen 2000 was originally a 3000 took the side burner off and replaced it with a shelf. Used the side burner on my JJ and WSM cart it's sole purpose is to light chimneys for the JJ and WSM.
FYI sold the Silver B for $170.
 
Sam Bee said:
Looks good Jon. I just started on the rehab of the 05 Platinum C this past weekend also. If I can't salvage the bottom piece then I will make it an open cart and put a wire rack in its place as I've seen some people do that.
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Sam,
I think that is a very viable option. If I went that route, I would paint the wire rack gray like the frame. I am not ruling out that solution myself, but since I have the stainless tubes and stainless z brackets I thought it would be cool to make it have bottom shelves like the classic Genesis grills. Hopefully, the old “durawood” slats, which are gray, will blend in with the rest of the Platinum gray tables.
 
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